Germany wants to divert 10% of the EU budget towards dealing with the refugee crisis, after a lack of joined-up thinking exacerbated the challenges posed by irregular migration to Europe.

The German development minister, Gerd Müller, said the EU’s current mechanisms for responding to the refugee crisis were not fit for purpose, and suggested appointing a special commissioner to lead a combined European refugee strategy, as well as other global humanitarian challenges.

“We need to respond to this with new instruments and my proposal regarding the refugee crisis is that 10% of the EU budget be shifted in order to respond to this crisis,” said Müller, speaking on the sidelines of the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul.

Hundreds of world leaders and politicians will descend on Istanbul on Monday in a nominal attempt to reform the global humanitarian system, despite criticism that their summit is a photo-opportunity that will achieve little.

Müller’s proposal follows a year in which Europe’s leaders responded to a wave of migration at its borders with a fragmented series of strategies and promises, many of which they failed to uphold, or were slow to enact.

In April last year, leaders said they would crack down on Libyan smugglers, but the mission took until September to get under way, and has largely been a failure.

In September, EU members pledged to relocate 120,000 refugees from Greece and Italy, the frontline states where most new asylum seekers enter Europe. But despite renewing these vows in March, less than 1% of the refugees concerned have been moved. Similarly low numbers have been resettled directly from the Middle East.

In January, European and western leaders promised to send billions of pounds to countries in the Middle East where refugees form substantial proportions of the population – but so far only a sixth of the money has been paid.

In general, Europe has been divided on which strategies to follow, with Germany and Holland arguing for mass resettlement from the Middle East, while hardliners in countries such as Hungary built fences and changed their asylum laws to make life harder for refugees.

Alluding to some of these problems, Müller said: “We can’t just go from one summit to the next, making statements that we don’t fulfil.”

Politicians will meet in Istanbul on 23-24 May to debate how to deal with global crises that have been exacerbated by war, climate change and natural disasters. EurActiv’s media partner, The Guardian, looks at the main questions surrounding the summit’s objectives and organisation.

The EU’s institutions have also sometimes appeared fragmented, with different EU commissioners – quasi-civil servants chosen by European leaders – given responsibility for different parts of the crisis response.

Federica Mogherini, the EU’s top diplomat, led attempts to combat Libyan smugglers; Frans Timmermans, the commission’s vice-president, is the main point of contact on the EU-Turkey deal; while a third official – Dimitris Avramopoulos – has the title of migration commissioner.

To make the EU’s actions more streamlined, Müller proposed the appointment of a single person with responsibility for dealing with refugees and other global challenges. This official would be given jurisdiction over 10% of the EU’s budget, or roughly €10bn , which would be diverted from other parts of the EU’s existing income.

Müller said: “We need a single commissioner responsible for all these crises. We need a single fund of €10bn to be set up by shifting EU budget funds.”

He added: “As far as European commitments are concerned, a high commissioner from the EU could then administer pledges made at conferences such as London.”

Asked if Müller’s proposal had been mistranslated, a spokesperson for his ministry confirmed his comments were interpreted correctly. She added that the €10bn “should not be on top of the current EU budget, but should be achieved by restructuring the current budget”.

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The German Chancellor effectively created this problem so Germany shall pay not anyone else.

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Jay

24/05/2016 22:23

Yep, she fell flat on her butt when she inserted both feet in her mouth but Sweden shares as much blame as Angela so perhaps Germany and Sweden can split the tab, forget the tip.

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Gerry

24/05/2016 23:34

A bit like closing the gate after the horse bolted but hey better late than never. Might be nice if they could learn from this to act with a measure of foresight rather than just let it run wild at first. It might also help to do the planning with people other than those who came up with all the failed policies so far before committing any funds and start spending again. Just allocating funds won’t fix a problem, you to come up with a workable solution first.